Club 22 (Hades Book 3)

by Tate James

  Zed strode to the garage and hit the button to open the door so the vehicle crawling its way up the driveway could roll straight in. As they got closer, I squinted to read the flaking-off logo on the side of the ancient panel van.

  "Betty and Bill's Best Plumbing," I read out loud, then arched a brow at Zed. "Friends of yours?"

  He quirked a sly smile and pulled out his phone to show me Betty and Bill's webpage. Apparently they were a husband and wife plumbing team who'd been in business for over fifty years. Betty and Bill were also a severely unattractive couple, well into their seventies.

  The van rumbled and clanked to a stop within the garage, and Zed closed the roller door, sealing us off from any curious neighbors with a telescope.

  A second later, the van doors opened, and a small, skinny, gray-bearded man in saggy overalls stepped out of the passenger side. The brisk stride that Bill took toward us was a solid indication, though, that this was not Bill at all.

  "Dare!" the little old man exclaimed in a seriously feminine voice, then launched himself at me with a sob. A girly sob.

  Grinning, I returned my little sister's hug. "Hey brat," I greeted her. "Nice disguise. I take it you're Bill?"

  She pulled back from my embrace and smirked, stroking her fake beard. "Wait until you see my lovely wife, Betty."

  My eyes shot to Zed, and he looked like he was just barely holding the laughter inside as the driver climbed out of the van. Betty looked remarkably like her picture, her overalls straining over an enormous bosom and butt and her gray hair hanging in lank curls around her face. Her very manly, bearded face.

  "Oh, come on," I chuckled. "This was the best disguise you could think up?"

  Zed shrugged, looking way too proud of himself as Betty stopped in front of us with her hands on her hips. "Best? Nah. Most entertaining? One hundred times over, yes." Snickering, he raised his phone and snapped a picture of Cass in drag, then narrowly ducked a punch swung at his head.

  "You're just begging to get your ass kicked, Zeddy Bear," Cass snarled, tugging his wig off and tossing it aside. He still wore Betty's jumpsuit, padded out in feminine curves, and the whole thing was just too absurd for words.

  "What? It got you here undetected, didn't it?" Zed defended himself as the four of us made our way to the kitchen. "No one would look twice at an ugly-as-sin woman like you and wonder if you were really the recently deceased Cassiel Saint, would they? No. So quit your crying; I'll get you a drink."

  Seph tugged her own wig and beard off as we reached the kitchen, and Zed pulled out a bottle of whiskey from his bar.

  "Where's Lucas?" she asked, looking around the empty room with a small downturn in her lips.

  I narrowed my eyes briefly, then shook off the spike of possessiveness. I was overtired and majorly stressed out—probably reading way too much into an innocent question. "He's asleep," I told her. "He spent all damn day training with the boys at Anarchy and had a few bumps to recover from."

  Cass and Zed exchanged a quick look, and I resisted the urge to smack their heads together. I couldn't have anyway because Seph got in front of me to wrap her arms around Cass's huge, padded belly in a hug.

  "Thank you for saving me, Saint Cass," she simpered, batting her lashes as she peered up at him.

  Cass glanced over at me, then awkwardly patted her on the head. "Don't mention it, mini-Red."

  "I'm kinda tired, Zed, which room is mine?" She smiled over at my second like the sun shone out of his damn ass.

  Zed's brows hitched. "Uh, loft space. I made the bed up for you earlier."

  Seph pouted. "The loft? What about the guest room opposite yours?"

  Zed's eyes met mine briefly before answering her. "We've got a bit of a full house right now, Seph. In case you hadn't noticed."

  She rolled her eyes dramatically and sighed. "Fine. Loft is fine, I guess. Thanks, Zed, you're the best." She hopped over to him and kissed his cheek before dancing out of the kitchen, yelling over her shoulder, "Night!"

  For a long moment, none of us spoke. I just stared after my little sister in stunned disbelief, waiting for her to turn around and acknowledge me for saving her freaking life. But nope, a moment later we heard the sound of her thumping up the stairs and then a slamming door.

  "Wow," I murmured. "Not quite the reaction I’d expected."

  Cass grimaced. "Trust me, it was worse being trapped on a cargo flight for fifteen hours with her bitching on and on about how we'd all lied to her."

  I scowled. "Lied to her? About what?"

  He arched a brow back. "Uh, me being dead, for starters."

  Zed snorted into his whiskey glass. "No shit, she's not exactly the best secret-keeper alive."

  I nodded my agreement. "Precisely. Besides, it was none of her fucking business. I'd have thought after being kidnapped and held as leverage for two days she might have been just the tiniest bit appreciative of everything I do for her, but apparently that's asking too much."

  My mood officially foul, I snatched up one of the glasses of whiskey and knocked it back in one mouthful.

  "I'm going to bed too," I commented. "I'm so fucking angry right now I either sleep or I'll find myself strangling Seph in her bed."

  Zed caught my arm before I could pass by him to pull me in close and kiss me hard. "I'd say go to my room, but I feel like Cass might have dibs tonight."

  I grinned and kissed him back. "You'd be right." I looked over my shoulder at Cass, still in half his drag outfit. "You coming, Betty?"

  Cass glowered at Zed. "I'll be up in a minute, Red. I think Zeddy Bear and I need a quick chat first."

  Why did that statement make me both apprehensive and aroused? Shaking my head, I left them to it and headed upstairs by myself. As I started up the stairs, the solid sound of a fist hitting flesh echoed up to me, followed by a slightly pained laugh from Zed.

  Fucking alpha-male bullshit again. I was much better off letting them deal with it themselves. So long as they didn't kill each other, I didn't need to intervene.

  I paused outside my bedroom door, looking down the hallway to the loft door at the end. The temptation to storm up there and give Seph a solid piece of my mind was strong. But the desire to reconnect with Cass was stronger, so I stepped into my room and closed the door behind me.

  Not knowing how long Cass needed to talk with Zed, I started stripping off my sweaty gym clothes. Two hours of training drills with Zed had definitely left me less than fresh, so I tossed a silk robe on and headed down the hall to the bathroom for a quick rinse.

  When I arrived back at my room, Cass was stretched out on my bed in nothing but a pair of boxer-briefs and a sly smile.

  "Thank fuck you ditched the Betty outfit," I murmured, pushing the door closed with my heel and heading over to the foot of the bed. "I love you, but those boobs weren't doing it for me."

  He watched me with heavy-lidded eyes as I placed a knee on the end of the bed, then proceeded to crawl up his body until I straddled his waist and cupped his face in my hands. The scarring on his shoulder was red and angry but seemed to be healing well. Same with the scrape along the side of his head.

  "It feels like forever since I had my hands on you," he rumbled, all deep and sexy. His fingers tugged the tie of my robe undone, and I shrugged the slippery fabric off my shoulders. "Fuck, you're gorgeous, Red."

  Grinning, I leaned into his touch as he hauled me against his body and flipped us over. His mouth met mine in a crush of passion and intensity, stealing my breath away as he kissed me deep. Overwhelmed with desire, I met his tongue stroke for stroke as my fingers dug into the flesh of his back, desperately holding him closer. I needed him so bad it hurt, so within seconds I was tugging his underwear down and rocking my hips in a wordless plea.

  Cass chuckled against my kiss as he shucked his boxer-briefs but didn’t immediately fill my pussy with his cock like I wanted him to.

  "Not so fast, Angel," he growled. "I have something to give you first."

  I blinked a couple of
times, attempting to force coherent thought back into the front of my mind. "You got me something? You weren't exactly on vacation, Cass."

  His only response was a low, throaty laugh as he kissed his way down my body and mouthed my clit. As soon as his tongue found that tight cluster of nerves, all questions about what he wanted to give me flew from my brain. My thighs tightened around his face, and I moaned as he worked me over like he'd memorized a map of my vagina.

  He pushed two fingers into me, fucking me with his hand as well as his mouth. It made me come way too damn easily as I rode his face and groaned curses, which only seemed to amuse him further.

  Cass waited until the waves of my orgasm subsided, then flipped me over onto my belly in one smooth motion. Nudging my legs apart, he leaned over to grab something out from under one of the pillows.

  "What—" I started to turn and look, but he pushed my face back into the pillow with a firm yet joking movement. "Cass!"

  "Shhh, Angel," he rumbled. "Humor me."

  How could I argue with a simple request like that? Especially when he coaxed me up onto my knees and stroked his fingers back into my still throbbing cunt from behind. Shit, he knew just where to touch me to spark more arousal heating through my pussy too.

  Then he was rubbing wet circles over my backdoor while I squirmed on the fingers of his other hand, and I got the flash of insight that he'd had lube stashed under my pillow.

  "Cass..." I groaned his name as he pushed one finger inside.

  "Shh, Angel," he breathed, his fingers still stroking in and out of my cunt with lazy movements, dividing my attention away from the finger in my ass. I had nothing else to say, though, because I was fully on board with whatever the fuck he had in mind. Hell, he probably could have tied me up in shibari ropes and hung me from the ceiling and I'd have just asked for more. I was that addicted to Cassiel Saint.

  He used his fingers to spread the lube, making my breathing sharpen and my heart race with every touch, then I stiffened when his fingers were replaced by something larger.

  Not his cock, not that large. But something definitely not his fingers.

  "Relax, Angel," he urged, his own breathing rough. "Trust me."

  Jesus fucking Christ, magic words. Letting my breath out with a shaky exhale, I forced my body to relax and followed his husky instructions as he worked the toy into my ass. I wasn't an anal virgin by any means, but it'd been a while and it'd never been my favorite thing in the bedroom. Cass was all about flipping what I knew on its head, though, because by the time he was satisfied with the toy’s placement, I was a writhing, squirming mess.

  "Now what?" I moaned as he patted my ass cheek in satisfaction.

  He gave a huff of laughter. "What do you want, Angel?"

  My shoulders tightened, and I swallowed hard. "I want you to do whatever the fuck you want, Saint. You're calling the shots here, not me."

  He didn't respond for a moment, his palm caressing my butt cheek tenderly. Then his hand cracked down across my flesh, making me yelp.

  "Right answer," he growled, then slammed his thick cock into my already soaking core with one hard thrust, making me scream with pleasure. The combination of his cock in my pussy, the toy in my ass—I wasn't a fucking idiot. I knew damn well what he was preparing me for, and I was mentally going on the record to say I was one hundred and fifty percent keen on it.

  Like Lucas had said. Sometimes it just took good memories, good experiences to override the bad. Well... that and a shitload of therapy done via cold-blooded, violent murders. But I wasn't recommending my methods to anyone but me.

  Cass leaned forward, gathering up a handful of my hair, and pulled my head to an awkward angle as he fucked me ferociously. Every thrust saw his hips smacking into my ass, jolting the plug and making shockwaves of sensation ripple through me. When I came again, it was intense enough that I blacked out slightly.

  Then he flipped me over and drove back into me before my orgasm had even finished. My leg flexed like a gymnast’s under his hands, my knee meeting my shoulder as he fucked me harder and deeper, pushing me into a violent third orgasm that made my throat raw from screaming and my toes curl like some kind of demonic possession.

  Only when that third one passed did he let up. He shifted to stand beside the bed, then hauled my jellylike body up and pushed me to the carpet in front of him.

  Panting and eager, I sat up on my knees, feeling the thickness of the toy still lodged inside me as I opened my mouth and took Cass's thick, hot length.

  He gave me a feral grin as he gripped my hair, shoving his dick deeper into my mouth.

  "Fuck I missed you," he growled as he fucked my throat, making me gag with every second stroke. Then, right as his shaft started to swell, he clicked a button in his hand and the plug in my ass started vibrating violently.

  I came again, moaning as Cass gripped my hair tight and filled my throat with his cum. Then I collapsed in a trembling, delirious heap on the floor.

  33

  Cass, it seemed, was determined to make up for lost time. He barely let me sleep all damn night, then around dawn I crashed like a ton of bricks. It was that sort of physically exhausted, totally satisfied sleep that gave me the best rest. No dreams, no nightmares, just sleep.

  It was midafternoon by the time I dragged my ass out of bed and followed my grumbling stomach downstairs.

  Lucas was at his favored study spot at the kitchen island, his books spread out around him, but this time he had company in the form of my bratty little sister. She had a faint shadow of a bruise on her cheekbone, but otherwise she seemed in great health for a two-day imprisonment.

  Cass was at the coffee machine, yawning as he started pouring some liquid gold for both of us—I hoped. He had only gotten up ten minutes before me and looked wrecked.

  "Good morning, gorgeous." Lucas grinned as he spotted me, holding out an arm to beckon me closer. I willingly stepped into his embrace and sighed into his kiss as he brought his lips to mine.

  The fake gagging noise from my sister made me pull away a lot sooner than I'd have liked, though, and I gritted my teeth to keep from snapping at her.

  "Morning, Seph," I greeted in a cool tone. "I take it you've fully recovered from your ordeal if you're back to your usual charming self?"

  She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Whatever. It wasn't even that bad. They were never going to actually hurt me."

  Lucas's grip on my waist tightened, and Cass glanced up from the coffee machine to meet my eyes. They knew, like I did, that the only reason she hadn’t been hurt was because I’d played Chase's fucked up game. She’d been leverage, nothing more.

  Still, I didn't tell her all of that. I just gave a tight smile and kissed Lucas's shoulder before heading over to Cass and the coffee.

  "Fuck yes," I moaned as he handed me one of the mugs. I inhaled the rich aroma of freshly brewed beans, and my mouth watered.

  Cass just watched me with those intense, dark eyes, then pressed a hand to my lower back to kiss me. When he withdrew to sip his own coffee, my sister drew my focus once again with a small scoff.

  Drawing a deep breath, I prayed for sanity and patience as I turned back around to face her. "Do you have something to say, Seph?"

  She wrinkled her nose, like she was debating backing down, but the break away from me must have given her a new sense of bravery. She pursed her lips and tilted her chin up defiantly.

  "Uh yeah," she sneered. "What are you, just, like, fucking multiple guys now? I thought you were in love with Lucas."

  I resisted the urge to rub at the building headache between my eyes. "I am," I replied, and Lucas flashed me a grin. "But I'm also in love with Cass." I bumped the big, silent grump at my side, and he leaned back into me. "And Zed," I murmured after a small hesitation.

  Seph's brows shot right up at that admission. "Zed too?"

  I rolled my own eyes at her theatrics. "You just spent six weeks in Italy with your best friend and her three husbands. What is so hard to wrap your br
ain around here, Seph? Love isn't a finite commodity, so get the fuck over it and shove all that self-righteous bullshit back where it came from. Last I checked, you weren't exactly qualified or experienced enough to give any kind of opinion on the matter."

  My tone was a lot harsher than I intended, but fuck me. She had barely been back a day, and she was already on my last damn nerve. Maybe due to the fact that she had all but ignored my role in saving her stupid ass. Maybe because she hadn't apologized for being a judgmental prick when she thought I'd killed Cass. Or maybe it was her vaguely flirtatious glances at my guys that was setting me off. Regardless, she just stared at me with wide eyes for a moment.

  Then those pale blue eyes, a fucking carbon copy of my own, started welling up with tears.

  My anger deflated in a rush of breath, and guilt washed over me. "Seph, I didn't—"

  "No, you meant every word," she snapped, sliding off her stool and sniffing hard. "And you're right. I don't know what love is because you've never even let me go on an innocent fucking date, let alone have the kind of sex that you were having all damn night."

  "Of course not," I barked back, "because your judgment fucking sucks! Look what happened with Paulo in Italy!"

  Seph flinched at that, and I ground my teeth in frustration. I was usually so much calmer when dealing with her tantrums; I didn't know why I was losing my temper so badly now.

  "Yeah, well," she replied, tears already running down her cheeks, "maybe if you hadn't controlled every damn aspect of my life, I'd have been able to make better judgment calls. Dad never would have suffocated me like you do. He'd have let me make my own choices, just like how he let you and Chase get engaged when you were like fifteen. You're nothing but a controlling egomaniac, Dare, and I'm sick of it."

  With that cutting barb, she tore out of the kitchen, brushing past Zed in the doorway, and stomped her way upstairs. The dramatic sound of her wails echoed as she retreated until eventually the loft door slammed and all was quiet once more.